How to screenshot on a Mac, with or without the keyboard

Whether you have a MacBook Air, a MacBook Pro, an iMac or a Mac mini, screenshots work the same way: three shortcuts cover nearly everything, and an app covers the rest. This guide walks through each one, what to do when the keyboard isn’t an option, and how the shortcuts translate to a Windows keyboard.

Whole screen: Shift-Command-3

Press ⇧⌘3. That’s it: there’s nothing to drag or click. You’ll hear a camera shutter if your sound is on, and a thumbnail slides into the bottom-right corner of the screen. Leave it for a few seconds and the screenshot is saved to your desktop.

With a second display connected, you get one image per display rather than one wide image. Everything visible is included, so close private windows and notifications first.

Part of the screen: Shift-Command-4

Press ⇧⌘4, drag a box around what you want, and let go. Two keys change what it does:

• Press Space before you drag to switch to capturing a single window. Click the window you want.
• Press Esc to cancel.

This is the shortcut most people end up using daily. Our guide to screenshotting part of your screen covers its extra tricks, such as moving the selection while you drag and leaving out a window’s shadow.

The Screenshot toolbar: Shift-Command-5

⇧⌘5 opens a small toolbar near the bottom of the screen. It’s the Screenshot app, and it puts every option in one place:

• Capture Entire Screen, Capture Selected Window and Capture Selected Portion take screenshots.
• Record Entire Screen and Record Selected Portion make a screen recording, saved as a MOV file.
• Options sets where captures are saved and adds a timer. It also shows or hides the floating thumbnail and the mouse pointer.
• Capture or Record starts it. Press Esc to close the toolbar.

On macOS Tahoe 26 and later, supported Macs also get a Capture Format choice in Options. SDR (Most compatible) saves PNG files, while HDR saves HEIF files that keep the extra brightness but don’t open everywhere.

Without the keyboard

If a key is broken, or you simply prefer the mouse or trackpad, the Screenshot app works without any shortcut:

1. Click Finder in the Dock.
2. Choose Go → Utilities from the menu bar.
3. Double-click Screenshot. The same toolbar as ⇧⌘5 appears.
4. Pick a capture mode, then click Capture.

To keep it handy, Control-click the Screenshot icon in the Dock while it’s open and choose Options → Keep in Dock.

Preview is another route. Its File → Take Screenshot menu offers From Selection, From Window and From Entire Screen, and the result opens in Preview, ready to crop or annotate.

On a Windows keyboard

Apple’s rule for keyboards made for Windows PCs is simple: use Alt for Option, and the Windows logo key (or Ctrl) for Command. On most Windows keyboards plugged into a Mac, that makes the shortcuts:

macOS doesn’t use the Print Screen key out of the box. You can give it a job, though. Open System Settings → Keyboard, click Keyboard Shortcuts… and select Screenshots. Double-click the shortcut next to Save picture of screen as a file, then press Print Screen (macOS may show it as F13). The same list is where you can turn screenshot shortcuts back on if they’ve stopped working.

Where screenshots go

Unless you’ve changed it, every screenshot lands on your desktop as a PNG file. Its name starts with “Screenshot” and includes the date and time it was taken. Screen recordings use the same naming, starting with “Screen Recording”.

To send them somewhere else, press ⇧⌘5, click Options and pick a place under Save to: Documents, Mail, Messages, Preview, Clipboard, or Other Location… for any folder. Choosing Clipboard means nothing is saved as a file; the image is ready to paste instead. Our guide to sending screenshots to the clipboard covers that habit.

Screenshot cheat sheet

When you wanted the text, not a picture

A lot of screenshots are taken to keep a few words: a confirmation number, an address, an error message. The picture can’t be searched or edited, so you end up reading the words back out of it. Live Text does that for free: select the screenshot in Finder, press Space, drag across the words and copy them. Copying text from a screenshot explains the details.

If that’s your usual reason for a screenshot, Unpixel skips the picture. Press ⇧⌘2, drag over the words just as you would with ⇧⌘4, and let go. The recognised text goes straight to your clipboard, read on your Mac, and no image file is created.